4 Reasons Your Leaders Have Plateaued, Plus What You Can Do About It
Updated: Mar 6, 2024
Written by: Sara Mueller, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
You’ve done the hard work of assembling a leadership team of A-players. You’re setting stretch goals, measuring what matters, and compensating your team well. And while your organization is successful, the bolder, grander vision you have for it keeps falling short. You know you need your leaders to push the innovation and growth you desire forward, but you sense they’ve hit a plateau. Here are four cognitive reasons why and what you can do about it.
1 The Dunning-Kruger Effect
The Dunning-Kruger Effect is a cognitive bias where people mistakenly think their intellectual ability is greater than it is. For example, research published in the US National Library of Medicine found that 65 percent of Americans believe they are more intelligent than the average person. We overestimate our knowledge and abilities, especially if we have low self-awareness and don’t regularly receive (or know how to effectively accept) feedback from our peers and managers.
This better-than-average effect can increase when we develop expertise in our careers. With our past successes in mind, we tend to be less open to new ideas or information and, instead, keep repeating what once worked in our industry and with the teams we lead. With this approach, of course, innovation is thwarted and our competitors quickly gain more market share.
2 Confirmation Bias
Research estimates that we are bombarded with 34 gigabytes of sensory information every day. So that we don’t get overwhelmed into paralysis, the Reticular Activating System (RAS) in our brainstem filters all the data we consume through our unique belief systems about ourselves and the world. The RAS filter only registers and confirms what we already know, believe, and do. This is called Confirmation Bias, and it keeps your leaders unconsciously operating in unproductive patterns and failing to innovate.
Carl Jung famously said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” To overcome Confirmation Bias and unconscious limiting beliefs that hold leaders back, best-in-class organizations are helping their leaders develop self-mastery, emotional intelligence, and mindfulness skills.
3 Static Success Set Point
We all operate on a consistent level of success across our work, relationships, health, and finances. It’s why the high performers you know are high performers in all areas of their life, not just at work. It’s also why lottery winners, who gain a new higher level of financial success, are more likely than the average American to file for bankruptcy within three to five years. The lottery winner’s success set point did not rise, so after a short time, their financial set point lowers back down in line with the rest of their life.
Our success set point is impacted by our self-esteem, confidence, and personal growth. This is why the rapidly growing companies I get to work with are investing heavily in the personal and professional development of their leaders. They are committed to raising their leaders’ success set point through personal growth knowing that, in turn, it will raise the results of their business.
4 The Law of Familiarity
The Law of Familiarity states that when you are around something or someone long enough that they become familiar, you tend to take them for granted and appreciate their input less. This is why your board repeatedly denies your requests to increase resources, but as soon as a consultant comes in and advises the same thing, they agree to the investment. Or why your children ignore your suggestions but will hear and respect similar wise words from their aunt or best friend’s father.
The Law of Familiarity is also why, even if you make a great effort to train and coach your leaders, they undervalue or ignore what you say. To combat the Law of Familiarity, market-leading organizations invest heavily in outside experts to train and develop their leaders.
Plateaus in organizations are common, unfortunately. But by overcoming these four cognitive influences on your leaders, you’ll be on your way to innovation and growth in no time.
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Sara Mueller, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Sara Mueller believes we CAN have it all. She helps leaders develop emotional intelligence, resilience, and high performance so they can balance an impactful career AND a meaningful family life. After being burnt out in her career and hitting rock bottom in her marriage, Sara realized that her limiting beliefs and unproductive patterns were blocking joy and success in all areas of her life. So, she underwent an intense journey of self-discovery learning how to own her authentic power, presence, and purpose. She now teaches the key learnings of her transformation in her Self-Mastery Method coaching and leadership programs. Prior to becoming a Success Mentor, Sara spent nearly two decades developing optimization training programs for Fortune Global 500 executives while also teaching mindfulness and yoga to people from all walks of life. She’s a certified Conscious Parenting Coach and is regularly regarded as “life-changing,” “eye-opening,” and “one of the most engaging facilitators I’ve ever seen” by her beloved clients.
